Apparatus for forging and forming balls



Jan. 13, 1942. F. H. G. BRANDT APPARATUS FOR FORGING AND FORMING BALLSFiled 001'.. 16, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet l l l l lli:

INVENTOR.

FRED H. G. BRANDT 77% ATTORNEY Jan. 13, 1942. F. H. G. BRANDT 2,269,899r

APPARATUS FOR FORGING AND FORMING BALLS Filed Oct. 16, 1939 5Sheets-Sheet 2 .N MKDQE INVENTOR M /f f U. l U E V 5? M vll WENN? www?n. m; .,M.. m WN m M w l v. /vvv M .l1 n /N/ FRED H. G. BRANDT 'ATTORNYJan. i3, 1942. F. H. G. BRANDT APPARATUS FOR FORGING AND FORMING BALLSFiled OCT.. 16, 1959 5 SheeiZS-Sheel 3 FIGURE 3.

INVENTOR. FRED H. G. BRANDT BY ATTORNEY Jan. 13, 1942. F. H. G. BRANDT2,269,899

APPARATUS FOR FORGING AND FORMING BALLS Filed Oct. 16, 1959 5Sheets-Sheet 4 3m 'lsb 755x 75 |09 Hur-mf mil-m /IHL l, 32 WM Y 76 loeF|GURE 5. l FIGURE 6.

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INVENToR. FRED H. G. BRANDT www# y( A TTORNE Y Patented Jan. 13, 1942APPARATUS FOR. FORGING AND FRMING e BALLS Fred Henry Gerhard Brandt,Kansas City, Mo.

Application October 16, 1939, Serial No. 299,689` In Canada ctober18,1938 3 Claims.

This invention relates to the Apparatus for forging and forming ballsand more particularly to that type that forms the balls from a steelrod. These balls are usually used for ball mill grinding but are notrestricted to this use.

An object of the present invention is to form an oval shaped rod from around rod with rotating dies, another pair of co-operating rotating dieswith their axes turned substantially 90 degrees from the axes of theprevious dies to receive and form the oval shaped rod into ball portionswith poles integrally connecting therebetween, and a third pair ofco-operating rotating dies with their axes substantially paralleling thefirst mentioned pair of dies to receive the balls in a position toeliminate the equator marks of the previous dies and shear the poles,thereby forging and separating the balls preparatory for a finishingmachine, if further refinement is desired.

Another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus to forgeor knead the metal beyond the shape of the balls in one direction andthen forging the shape partially back into sphere or ball shapes withthe exception of poles integrally connecting the bal1s,^the balls thenbeing forged in a different direction and severed by rotating sheardies.

Another object of the present invention is to provide three pair ofco-operating rotating dies forforging a rod into balls, each pair ofdies forming a portion ofthe ball and being adjustable therebetween sothat the different dies can be properly synchronized or registered, theadjustment between each pair of dies being separated from the otheradjustments to take care of Another object of the present invention ist0v provide one die of each pair of dies with a hinge adjustment, ascrew takeup and a spring cam and lever release whereby the dies can beproperly adjusted.

With these and other objects in view the invention further consists inthe combination of elements illustrated in the accompanying drawings,described in the specifications, and more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating theimproved forging machine withcertain portions broken away to show certain details.

Figure 2 is a front view in elevation of the improved ball forgingmachine with certain fragments broken away to illustrate the interior,the shaft and rails being broken away to save illustrating space.

Figure 3 is a sectional view in elevation taken on line 3--3 of Figure1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view in elevation taken on line 4 4 of Figure 1,this sectional view being similar to a view taken on line 4a of Figure1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detailed view of one of the first pair of diesillustrating the elliptical shaped recess for distorting the rod beyondthe desired spherical diameters in one direction, a portion of die beingbroken away to suiciently illustrate.

Figure 6 is an enlarged detailed view of one of the second pair of diesillustrating the sphericallike recesses for forming the ellipticalshaped portions of the rod into balls with poles connectingtherebetween, a portion of the die being broken away to illustrate.

Figure 7 is an enlarged detailed view of one of the third pair of diesfor shearing the poles between the balls with certain portions beingbroken away to suiliciently illustrate; thus completing the forgingoperation and if further refinement is desired they may be heated andfinished in a ball finishing machine, the ball finishing machine andfurnace for heating the balls not being shown in this application.

Figure 8 is a still further enlarged fragmentary view of the rolls forforging the balls with thin poles from the oval shaped rod.

Figure 9 is a view of the same rod turned substantially degrees on itsaxis and of the same scale but passing through the last pair of rolls toremove the equator marks and polar connections by forging and shearing.

Figure 10 is an end view of the rod showing the ball formation on theend thereof, a dotted cross section of the integral poles, and the ovalformed from the round rod while passing through the first dies. This rodis illustrated with the same scale as Figures 8 and 9.

The rails B are formed in an inverted T shape with a slot 8a in the stemportion for the bolts 9 and bevel edges l0 for retaining and supportingth'e housings Il, I2 and I3, the housings having their respective shoesI4, I5 and I8 arranged to slide on the T stem shaped portions of therails. The housings are slotted at' I1, I8 and I9 to receive the bolts 8so that they may be clamped into any adjusted position on the rails.

The housing II is integral with the shoes I4 and is formed to receivethe bearing flanged sleeves 29 held in place by the screws 2i, thescrews passing through the flanges into the housing I I. A pair offlanged bushings 22 receive a right angle spiral gear 28 with a squarehole 23a therethrough to provide a driving means with the horizontalsquare or splined shaft 24. The gear meshes with the right angle spiralgear 25 having a vertical shaft 28 secured therein by the key 21, theshaft 28 passing through the bearing 28 in the lower portion of thehousing II and having a collar 29 secured on the end thereof. The topportion of the vertical shaft 28 passes through the bearing 39 in thehousing II and has the die arbor II secured thereto by the key I2 toreceive the die IIa secured to the arbor by capscrews 3Ib.

The helical spur gear 33 meshes with the right angle spiral gear 25 andbeing driven thereby has a vertical shaft 34 passing therethrough andsecured thereto by the key 85, the lower end of shaft 34 passing throughthe bearing 38 and the upper portion of the shaft passing through thebearing 31 to receive the die arbor 39 secured thereto by the key 48 toreceive the die 89a. secured thereto by capscrews 89h. 'I'he bearings 38and 31 integrally secured to a box shaped portion 4I, guided in thehousing II, and being pivoted on the pin 42 by the boss 43- and hingelugs 44. The lugs 44 are integral with the screw plate cover 45 which issecured to the top of the housing by the screws 48. The plate 45 has aboss 41 integral therewith and threaded to receive a screw 48 with ahandle 49 and lock nut with handles 59, the screw 48 passing through thethreaded boss 41 and bearing down on the box shaped portion 4I. A cam 5Isecured to a shaft 52 bears against the box portion 4I and is providedwith a lever 53, tension spring 54, takeup screw 55, lock nuts 58, thetakeup screw 55 passing through the boss 51 integral with the housingII. The tension spring, lever, shaft and cam are provided to move thebearing box shaped housing 4I away from the shaft 29 thereby causing thedies 3io and 39a. to separate as the screw 48 is withdrawn from the boss41. The minor adjustment of the dies will govern the exact size of theelliptical shaped rod to allow the operator to control the amount ofkneading or forging of the material to give the best results. The rod isled into the dies through split sleeve guide portions 58 and 59 heldtogether by bolts GII and secured to the housing II by cap screws 9|.

The housing I3 with its various parts being similar to the housing IIand its various parts has been given like numbers for like parts toavoid duplicate description, the only exception being in the sleeve 82being straight and not having a bell like portion as shown on sleeve 58.

The housing I2 is integral with the shoes I5 and is formed to receivethe bearing flanged 59 having a. horizontal shaft 10 secured therein bythe key 1I, the shaft passing through the bearing 12 in the rear portionof the housing I2. The front portion of the horizontal shaft 10 passesthrough the bearing 14 in the housing I2 and has the die arbor 15secured thereto by the key 18, the die 15a being secured to the arbor 15by the cap screws 15b. The helical spur gear 11 meshes with the gear 88and being driven thereby has a substantially horizontal shaft 18 passingtherethrough and secured thereto by the key 19, the shaft 18 passingthrough the bearing and the front portion of the shaft passing throughthe bearing 8| to receive the die arbor 92 secured thereto by the key83. The die 82a is secured to the arbor 82 by cap screws 82h.

The bearings 89 and 8| are integrally secured to a box shaped portion 84guided in the housing I2, and being pivoted on the pin 85 by the boss 88and hinge lugs 81 integral with the screw plate cover 88. The cover 88is secured to the top of the housing by the screws 89. The plate 88 hasa boss SII integral therewith and threaded to receive a screw 9I withthe handle 92, a lock nut with handles 93, the screw 9i passing throughthe threaded boss 99 and bearing downwardly on the box shaped portion84. A cam 94 secured to a shaft 95 bears against the box portion 84 andis provided with a lever 98, tension spring 91, takeup screw 98, andlock nuts 99. The takeup screw 98 passes through the boss I90 integralwith the housing I2. The tension spring, lever, shaft and cam areprovided to move the bearing box shaped housing 84 away from the shaft19 thereby causing the die arbors 15 and 82 to separate as the screw 9|is withdrawn from the boss 90.

The housings II, I2 and I3 are spaced apart and adjusted by the screws II3, I I4 and threaded bosses II2.

The minor adjustment of the spacing of the dies will govern the exactsize of the spherical shaped portion of the rod to allow the operator tocontrol the kneading or the forging of the material to give the desiredsubstantially spherical shape. The rod is fed throughfthe sleeve 58 and59 to the dies 3Ia. and 39a held to their respective arbors 3| and 39 bytheir respective cap screws 3Ib and 39h.

The roller dies 15a and 82a have a series of hemispherical shapedrecesses |88 arranged in the faces of the dies with polar recesses |09connesting the hemispherical shaped recesses.

The roller shearing dies |92 and I 03 have recesses I I0 to receive theballs and shearing blades III to shear the poles as they pass throughthe roller shearing dies. The blades I I I are preferably shown integral.with the die.

The round stock rod II5 Figure 10 is heated to a forging heat and isrolled into an elliptical shape II 6 by the first pair of roller dies3Ia and 39a. The elliptical shaped rod passes on to the second pair ofroller dies 15a and 82a where it is forged into balls II1 havingintegral poles |I8 connecting therebetween, the balls being formed byforging the elliptical rod on its edges thus kneading and working themetal to the best advantage. This method also reduces the stresses inthe forging process. In this second operation the overrun metal which issqueezed out between the dies forms equator lines II9 on the balls andthe improved method consists of the third pair of dies |02 and ID3 beingturned at substantially degrees from the second pair of roller dies toforge the equator and polar metal into the ball and shear the ballsapart leaving only a small polar projection |20 on each end of eachball. 'I'hese may be used as shown for some ball mills without furtherprocessing but if it is desired to have a perfect ball they can then bereheated and run through a ball rolling and finishing machine.

From a thorough study of the method and apparatus it will be apparentthat it is a high speed arrangement and can produce more balls than anyother process on the market for the initial cost of the equipmentrequired.

It is obvious from the foregoing description that a rod when heated Withforging heat can be passed without rotation through the bell shapedsleeve 58 and 59 into the roller dies 3|a 39a to form the ellipticalshape with its dimensions greater in one direction than the diameter ofthe nished ball. The elliptical shaped rod then passes without rotationrapidly throughthe sleeve |06 into the roller dies 15a and 82a whichhave their axes positioned at substantially 90 degrees from the axes ofthe dies 3|a and 39a, this second pair of roller dies forging theelliptical shaped portions into spherical like shapes with the exceptionof poles integrally connecting therebetween, the rotating action of therolls thereby feeding the spherical like portions of the rol through thesleeve without rotation to the roller shearing dies |02 and |03 forfevering the substantially spherical like shapes from the material thathas passed through the two previous pair of dies. These nearly sphericalshapes may then be further processed by passing on to a reheatingfurnace and finishing machine for fine texture and surface of balls.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a rolling mill apparatus having plural progressive pairs of rollsfor rolling a rod into approximate ball shapes, having in combination anentrance pair of rotatable dies, said entrance pair of rotatable dieshaving a substantially para bolic rolling surface between them, anintermediate pair of rotatable dies, said intermediate pair of rotatabledies having plural substantially ball shaped rolling surfaces betweenthem, said intermediate rotatable dies having link rolling surfacesconnecting said ball rolling surfaces, a pair of separating rotatabledies, said separating rotatable dies having plural substantially ball 2.In a rolling mill apparatus having plural progressive pairs of rolls forrolling a rod into approximate yball shapes, having in combination apair of rotatable dies, said rotatable dies having plural substantiallyball shaped rolling surfaces between them, said rotatable dies havinglink rolling surfaces connecting said ball rolling surfaces, a pair ofseparating rotatable dies, said separating rotatable dies having pluralsubstantially ball shaped rolling surfaces between them, said separatingrotatable dies having shearing edges between each of said ball rollingsurfaces, said shearing edges rof one die passing the shearing edges ofthe opposite die for complete parting of balls, and said shearing edgeswith said ball surfaces converging to forge parted links of balls intothe balls.

3. In a rolling mill apparatus having plural progressive pairs of rollsfor rolling a rod into approximate ball shapes, having in combination anentrance pair of rotatable dies, said entrance pair of rotatable dieshavinga substantially parabolic rolling surface between them, anintermediate pair of rotatable dies, said intermediate pair of rotatabledies having plural substantially ball shaped rolling surfaces betweenthem, Ysaid intermediate rotatable dies having link rolling surfacesconnecting saidball rolling surfaces, a pair of separating rotatabledies, said separating rotatable dies having plural substantially ballshaped rolling surfaces between them, said separating rotatable dieshaving shearing edges between each of said ball rolling surfaces, saidshearing edges of one die passing the shearing edges of the opposite diefor complete parting of balls, said shearing edges with said ballsurfaces converging to forge parted links of balls into the balls, andeach pair of rolls being adjustable to register ball material for eachpair of dies with respect to the next operating pair of dies.

FRED HENRY GERHARD BRANDT.

